Lynn J, Baily MA, Bottrell M, et al. Ethics of using quality improvement methods in health care. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2007 Apr 16;146:666-673.

Quality improvement activities can improve health care but must be conducted ethically. The Hastings Center convened leaders and scholars to address ethical requirements for QI and their relationship to regulations protecting human subjects of research.

Reinertsen JL, Gosfield AG, Rupp W, Whittington JW. Engaging Physicians in a Shared Quality Agenda. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Institute for Healthcare Improvement; 2007.

IHI Innovation Series white paper

This white paper presents a framework for building a written plan for physician engagement in quality and safety. It includes tools to help hospital leaders assess the degree of difficulty in engaging physicians and to prioritize initiatives for which physician engagement is essential.

Colmers JM. Commission on a High Performance Health System. Public Reporting and Transparency. New York, New York: The Commonwealth Fund; February 2007.

This report provides a brief history of efforts in the US to make information on health system performance (cost and quality) more transparent and publicly available. Key policy issues are explored, as well as lessons from the experience of public reporting efforts to date.

Full text available. Click view report below.

Nelson EC, Batalden PB, Godfrey MM
San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass; 2007

This book includes the research results of high-performing clinical microsystems, illustrative case studies that highlight individual clinical programs, guiding principles that are easily applied, and tools, techniques, and methods that can be adapted by clinical practices and interdisciplinary clinical teams. Chapter topics include: Success characteristics of high-performing clinical microsystems; Leading and developing microsystems; Developing professionals and improving work life; Planning patient-centered care; Improving patient safety.

Tomson CRV, Berwick DM. What can the UK learn from the USA about improving the quality and safety of healthcare? Clinical Medicine. 2006 Dec;6(6):551-558.

The US health care system provides evidence that spending more on health care does not result in better care, but also offers many lessons and surprises on how the quality and safety of health care can be improved. Improving care in the UK has focused on vertically integrated, closed health care systems, but the US experience provides additional models from the work of Quality Improvement Organizations and of numerous voluntary organizations that sponsor collaborative improvement.

Full text available! Click view article below.

Jennings B, Baily MA, Bottrell M, Lynn J (eds). Health Care Quality Improvement: Ethical and Regulatory Issues. Garrison, NY: The Hastings Center; 2007.

This edited volume is a collection of original papers that provide in-depth discussion of how to manage QI ethically and how to manage the interface with research ethics. How does QI differ from research? What duty do physicians, nurses, and health administrators have to initiate and participate in sound QI activities? What is the responsibility of patients to cooperate with them? What practical strategies for QI management and oversight could clinicians and mangers use to ensure that QI does not harm patients?

Full text available! Click view report below.

Sadler BL. To the class of 2005: Will you be ready for the quality revolution? Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety in Healthcare. 2006 Jan;32(1):51-55.

This article is based on the commencement address given by Blair L. Sadler, JD, former President and Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Hospital and Health Center of San Diego, on June 5, 2005, to the graduating class of the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine.

Full text available! Click view article below.

The Ethics of Using QI Methods to Improve Health Care Quality and Safety. The Hastings Center. July/August 2006.

This special supplement to the July/August 2006 issue of The Hastings Center report explores the ethical dimensions of efforts to make health care safer and better through continuous improvements in patient care, with special attention to the relationship between everyday QI activities and the ethical rules and regulations governing human subjects research. The report is supplemented by examples, definitions, charts, and summaries of regulations. (The report is funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the Department of Health and Human Services.)

Full text available!  Click View report below.

Berwick DM. How to fix the system. Time (Web Exclusive). April 24, 2006.

It’s possible to transform US health care! In "How to Fix the System," IHI President and CEO Donald Berwick describes seven principles for reform in Time magazine.

Full text available! Click view article below.

Hader R. Best-practice protocols: Every second counts. Nursing Management. Jun 2005;36(6):28-33.

This article, the first in a series, gives an overview of the six interventions recommended by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement as part of its 100,000 Lives Campaign to reduce hospital deaths, as well as other initiatives to improve patient safety.

Full text available! Click view article below.